Slowly, All At Once
by victrolannights
Summary: A celebration of life, love, and legacy on the 7th Limoversary.


**For my GG girls, I love you all so much. I started watching Gossip Girl when I was twelve (yes, that young) and never looked back. The GG fandom sort of raised me, and I found the older sisters I never had through Twitter. Every year on the Limoversary, I am reminded of all of the wonderful times I had laughing and crying with all of you, and it makes me so happy and sad all at once. While I'd give anything to get it back, the memories never fail to make me happy. I will always remember making my YouTube reviews, ranting on Tumblr, live tweeting episodes, searching madly for spoilers, going to set and getting call sheets for my Twitter followers, making friends on set, and finally meeting my inspiration Leighton for my Sweet 16 on Live With Kelly. Even though a lot of the fandom disintegrated, I still keep in touch with a lot of you, which brings me such joy. You all are so amazing.**

**I hope you all enjoy this. I tried to make it a tad different than past Limoversary fics I've done. Celebrate with a nice glass of wine, fics, and Netflix ;)**

**YKYLM XOXO, B**

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><p>Black lace, red lips. She twirls an absent curl slowly as she shifts her position so she can be closer to him. Arms slowly wrap around her small frame as he inhales the sweet scent of Chanel No 19. The city whizzes by them, the lights blurring into shades of white and yellow, it all dazzles her. He sees the twinkle in her eyes and smirks, kissing the side of her neck.<p>

"Mom really did you up." Henry murmurs, smiling against her neck. She blushes and laughs, looking down at the limo seat.

"She did. Blair Waldorf-Bass was not going to let me leave the house in the plain outfit I came in." Henry squeezes her hand.

"She means well. She just wanted our first anniversary to be perfect." She turns to face him, a slight frown on her face.

"Technically we haven't been together for a full year. There was some time apart." He sighs and grasps her small face in his hands.

"That doesn't mean anything to me Julia Lawrence. You know that." She rests her dainty hands on his wrists.

"Three words, eight letters. Forever and always." She murmurs. He kisses her lips softly and moves his hands to her waist. As she deepens the kiss, the partition rolls down.

"Mr. Bass, we have arrived." Arthur announces, turning off the engine. Henry recoiled as if he had been stung as Julia bit her lip to stifle her laughs.

"Thank you Arthur." The partition rolls back up, and Julia begins to giggle, her rosy cheeks growing scarlet red. Henry starts to laugh too, his dimples glowing. As Arthur opens the door, Henry can hear him mumble something lowly.

_"Fruit doesn't fall far from the tree."_

* * *

><p>Blair thumps the mixing spoon against her bowl in a rhythmic manner as she hums <em>Moon River <em>quietly to herself. Dorota watches her with an eyebrow raised as she prepares the pumpkin pie crust. After setting her bowl on the counter, Blair walks over to the sink and starts to wash her hands.

"I see you watching me Dorota. I'm not blind." Dorota smirks, her lips pressing together in a plump circle.

"You seem awfully calm for Mister Henry's first anniversary." Blair dries her hands on a violet, monogrammed towel and sighs.

"As much as it is hard to see my baby boy grow up and fall in love, I'd be a hypocrite if I did not support it." She smiles as her eyes are drawn to the portrait of her and Chuck that was taken by the New York Times shortly after their marriage. She adjusts the Harry Winston rock on her finger and returns to adding ingredients to her pie. "I've been married for eighteen years now and I'm still as in love with him as I was the day I danced for him."

"Oh, that's music to my ears." She sighs as a familiar pair of thick arms wrap around her. She giggles as she feels kisses tickle her neck. Dorota shakes her head.

"How did Henry look when he went off with Julia? I was not happy that I could not see them off." He asks against her check. Blair smiles and looks up at him.

"Happy as a clam. She as well. They make a beautiful couple."

"So do we." He murmurs against her lips.

"Hmmm-" She hums contently as he meets her in a chaste kiss. Dorota knows she has lost her co-chef at this point and takes matters into her own hands. Adding the last ingredients, she starts putting the mixture into the crusts.

"Ugh get a room." Chuck and Blair look over at their 13 year-old teenage daughter as she enters the kitchen area and plops down at the counter.

"Miss Brielle, I have your dinner in the oven."

"Thank you Dorota." She turns to her parents with a smirk. "Don't stop on my behalf. It's the Limoversary after all." With a small smile, she gazes down at her iPhone, which has lit up with a new message. Chuck and Blair smile at each other. They know their kids are grossed out by their public displays of affection, but they have become so used to it that they would think something is wrong if they were not seeing their parents madly in love.

"The Limoversary is tomorrow, November 7th." Blair corrects. Brielle smiles and puts her phone back in her bag.

"First off, you two act like it's the Limoversary every day. You still act like two love-drunk teenagers." Chuck kisses Blair hardly on the cheek, causing her to gasp and Brielle to sigh.

"Secondly, you're going away tomorrow, so we thought we'd celebrate tonight." 9 year-old Charlie carries in one year-old Stella, a surprise product of a Limoversary two-years prior, with an excited grin on his face.

"Dorota, Henry, Brielle, and I planned a night out for you two. Stella helped too, by spitting up on half the decorations." He looks down at his sister as she put her hands in her mouth excitedly.

"Car waiting for you downstairs. Pie ready when you get home." Dorota announces, plopping the pies into the oven. Blair embraces her eldest daughter and then crouches down to meet Charlie at eye-level.

"Thank you my sweet boy." She murmurs, fluffing his hair. She plants a kiss on Stella's head before grabbing her coat.

"I'm not even dressed." She says with a sigh.

"Don't worry about that! You're always beautiful." Brielle yells, taking Stella into her arms from a tired Charlie. Chuck looks at his children with a content smirk. Brielle rolls her eyes.

"Yes, we know without the limo none of us would be here. Now scat!" She waves her free hand towards the door where her mother exited. Chuck shakes his head and meets Blair in the foyer.

"We have great kids."

"I know." She gives him a peck before heading in the elevator.

* * *

><p>"You've got to be kidding Henry." Brielle gasps as she looks up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.<p>

"I'm not." He says as he pulls her up the stairs. She giggles as he swings the door open and leads her down the candle-lit hallway.

"How did you even manage to pull this off?" She asks, looking at the various paintings on the wall in awe.

"I'm Henry Bass." She slaps his shoulder playfully as their pace slows. He looks down at her.

"I know this is one of your favorite places in the city. In fact, it's where I first saw you. Sitting alone on the steps, eating a Chipotle burrito." Her right hand flies to her face in embarrassment. He slides his hand behind her back and holds her close to him.

"You could have been doing anything. It would not have prevented me from falling hopelessly in love with you." Her small green eyes look up at him intently.

"Julia, we have had our rough patches. Every destined couple does. Heck my mom married the Prince of Monaco before she married my dad. But she always knew in her heart that he was the one for her. They were both too scared of a future together. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared, because right now I'm shaking-" She feels the vibration of his arms as he looks down and takes a deep breath. "-But that's how I know that all of this is right. I know we're only seventeen, but my parents were that age when they first fell in love, and now they have four kids." He reads the panic in her eyes and laughs. He lets go of her and squeezes her hands.

"I'm not proposing to you. You can breathe now." She exhales and begins to laugh. Their laughter rings through the empty hallways of the Met and brings the paintings alive.

"I just want to promise you that I'll always, _always _love you. No matter what happens." He pulls out a chain from his coat pocket. It's a thin gold Tiffany chain with the letter H dangling from it. He gently puts it around her neck, feeling a tear hit his arm. She grasps his wrists after he has clasped it and moves her hands to squeeze his.

"We met in Art History. That's when you got the courage to talk to me, the mysterious, Chipotle-addicted out-of-town girl." He nods with a sly smirk.

"I know you brought me here because we shared our first kiss in front of 'Wheat Field With Cypresses' after we argued for five minutes about what was going through Van Gough's mind when he painted it. I also know you only took Art History so you could have an excuse to talk to me." Henry blushes and looks down at a ground, holding his smirk.

"But you're an amazing artist Henry. I've seen you draw when you think no one else is looking. So you're going to draw me, right here, right now, using that sketchbook and pencil somebody left over there." Henry turns around to see what she's talking about.

"Meet me by our painting." She whispers hotly in his ear before skipping giddily down the hall. He sighs and makes his way to the supplies, not even trying to hold back his smile.

* * *

><p>Chuck and Blair are not surprised when Arthur drops them off in front of Victrola. It's the obvious choice, a place his children know about. It is not the place it used to be. It is now a jazz-bar. The stage is now another level of seating, the booths revamped. However, it will always be their holy place. It was where Blair finally had let go of her inhibitions and found her love for Chuck that was buried under denial. It was where Chuck saw the real Blair, the girl without the hang-ups and social awareness. She was in her purist form, her happiest form, and it was a person only he knew. As they crossed the threshold, a movie started to play.<p>

"_Do you love me Nate?" Brielle asks, looking down with watery eyes at her brother. Charlie looks down at the ground, obviously trying to hold back a laugh._

"_Go to your father. He needs you. I don't." She snaps her fingers in a Z-formation to create comedic effect as the limo door is opened for her by Arthur. With a slam of the limo door, Charlie is left in the dust, staring whimsically at the limo that sped away from him._

_The limo is now in front of Victrola and Brielle hops out, flattening her custom Waldorf original that matches the set Blair wore on that day. "I thought you were supposed to be with Nate." Henry asks, raising an eyebrow in typical Bass fashion. Brielle rolls her eyes in her own fashion._

"_I need to escape. That's what this place is for, right?" She grabs Henry's hand and drags him through the door. As the camera pans to the inside, it reveals the old Victrola, minus the sleazy clientele and strippers. Brielle takes a seat next to Henry in the same booth as Chuck and Blair had sat. He pours her a glass of grape juice and she chugs it down in one gulp._

"_I know you don't want to talk about what happened but…"_

"_Relief. I feel relief." She pours herself another drink and swirls it around as she admires the dancers, consisting of the Archibald and Humphrey children, dancing to Shake It Off by Taylor Swift._

"_You know, I got moves. And not like awkward Taylor Swift dance moves, real moves."_

"_Really? Then why don't you get up there?" Henry raises his eyebrow at her again._

"_No, I'm just saying, I have moves."_

"_You're more gorgeous than any of those girls up there." He murmurs in his best impersonation of his father's voice. Brielle gags and snorts. _

"_I know what you're trying to do Bass. You really don't think I'll go up there." _

"_I know you won't." Henry challenges, eyeing her. Brielle looks at the stage and puts down her drink._

"_Guard my grape juice. And our future baby." Henry's eyes go wide as she plops Stella down on his lap. Stella looks up at him and smiles, patting his face with her tiny arms. His eyes are torn from the baby as Brielle takes center stage. She joins the Archibalds and Humphreys in a choreographed dance number, having her center stage. Henry stands up and stares at her in awe, holding Stella in his arms._

"_Who is that girl?" Dan and Nate ask from behind, both dressed up as a drag queens. Henry shakes his head._

"_My future wife."_

_The film cuts to Brielle and Henry sitting in the limo on the ride home. They both look at each other as if one of them is supposed to say a line, but then both turn to face the camera._

"_What happens in Victrola stays in Victrola." _

_F.I.N._

The 8 millimeter film clicks to a stop and a new film clicks on.

"_Hi Mom and Dad. Your love truly inspires me every day. I'm so grateful to have been blessed with parents like you. Love you." Henry says with a smile._

"_Hi parentals. You two are hopelessly in love, but I will admit I adore it. Even if the PDA is gross at times. Happy Limoversary." Brielle sticks her tongue out and laughs._

"_Dad, thanks for convincing Mom to pop one more out. Yes, we all know Stella was an accident. Henry gave me that talk a while ago. Blame him. Happy Limo Day." Charlie smiles a teethy grin._

"_Ma ma ma ma!" Stella squeals, thumping her clenched fists against Henry's lap. _

_The film continues with messages from their extended family and friends, and ends with gold glitter falling from the ceiling. _

As the lights come up, Blair notices their booth has been decorated with peonies, and a steak meal waits for them. Taking her husband's hand, they make their way down the stairs and to their spot.

* * *

><p>Henry nervously walks towards their panting, sketchbook and pencil in hand. In the dim light, he can see the blues of 'Wheat Field with Cypresses' and the outline of her face. It is only when he gets closer to her that he sees she has stripped of all of her clothing. His breath hitches in his throat. She is lying across a cushioned-bench, her eyes locked with his.<p>

"Draw me like one of your French girls." She whispers with a small giggle. He is taken aback with how beautiful she looks, brown hair splayed across her tanned body, perfectly covering every angle. He soaks her in, although he's not sure he'll ever be able to take it all in fully. She wanted to wait until marriage, and it was killing him slowly, but he honored her wishes. He had never seen her like this, so venerable, so care-free. She cocks her head slowly and presses her lips together.

"This is our Victrola Henry." She whispers. Blair tells her the story before she sees them off, and she thinks about it the whole limo ride there. She decides that she wants him to see her, all of her, know every angle and every crevice. She wants him to know her, to see her in her rarest form, for that image to be his for forever. So she strips herself down, for him and only him, and knows that it is in this moment where she will let her guard down to let him in. With shaking hands, Henry begins to draw, starting from her torso and moving outwards. It's meticulous, it's time-consuming, and the tension in the air grows and grows. But he focuses on drawing her to the finest of details, and she on his mannerisms. The swirls from the painting behind her describe his emotions perfectly. His head is spinning, but somehow he is managing to recreate the scene fully and completely. She is able to keep her composure, stand her ground. After a half hour of agony, he drops the sketchbook to the ground. She locks her eyes on it, the breath-taking recreation in front of her. Then she meticulously slips each article of clothing back on until she's fully clothed. The sound of their breathing bounces off the walls, the tension threatening to collapse the building on top of them. He reaches his hand out to her, and she squeezes it gently. No words are exchanged. They both know.

The limo door is barely shut when she pulls him on top of her, ripping the buttons of his collared shirt right off. They tumble to the floor as lips fight for dominancy, hands for new places to grasp. They had been this intimate before, but they knew this was both reaching a destination where they did not plan on stopping, a place of no return, a place of connectedness. He was going to lose his virginity to the girl he loved, and she was going to lose her virginity to the boy she loved. There was no waiting, no nervousness, no second-guessing. When he whispers "Are you sure?" in her ear, she nods and strokes his cheek.

_"I've never been more sure in my entire life."_

* * *

><p>She lies amongst the flower petals, he next to her. They stare up at the ceiling, hand-in-hand, heart in heart. The cold chill in the air causes her to nestle into his chest, her breathing finally slowing.<p>

"I know I've asked you this a thousand times," She starts. He nods slowly.

"But what were you truly thinking when I was up here dancing?" She rests her chin on his chest and looks up at him. He runs a finger through her hair.

"That I'd do anything to have you. You were the most beautiful, wholesome girl I had ever seen. I just could not believe I did not see all of that in you before."

"What, Blair Waldorf the sex kitten?" He shakes his head.

"I don't know how to explain it. There was you outside of Victrola, and there was you inside of Victrola. It was like you had been stripped of all of your clothing and there you were as the true you. And I fell in love, slowly, and then all at once."

"That did happen later." She says with a smirk. He sighs.

"I sure as hell wished I saved my virginity for you."

"I'm glad you didn't. Practice made perfect." He shook his head.

"That's why I asked you if you were sure. I was never sure. Not until then. You cemented it with your kiss." Blair slowly crawled her way up his body and kissed his chastely.

"I don't think our children left this blanket and pillow set to cover our naked bodies after we christened the stage for the fiftieth time." She murmured, propping herself up on her elbows.

"Improvisation, darling. We had no script. Not then, not now." Sighing, she plopped down on top of him.

"I love you Chuck Bass."

"I love you Blair Waldorf."

* * *

><p><strong>Wow it's 12:22…so I kind of missed the Limoversary. I totally lost track of time writing this! It was a lot longer than I had originally anticipated. I enjoyed writing this so much. I'm happy that I have more time to write now. Thinking about maybe finishing some discontinued fics or starting new ones. We'll see how many readers I still have. Leave a comment telling me what you think or what you'd like to see from me in the future.<strong>

**Much love to you all and again, Happy Limoversary :)**

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